Global Strategic Partnerships (Pod Lead), Enterprise Retail

📋 Description

• • As the Global Strategic Partnerships (Pod Lead) for Enterprise Retail at WorkWhile, you will embody the spirit of a "Vertical CEO," taking full ownership of the entire customer lifecycle within one of the most dynamic and critical sectors of the economy. This pivotal role is designed for a visionary leader who thrives on driving aggressive new business acquisition, ensuring world-class operational delivery, and strategically scaling key accounts. You will lead a specialized, high-performing unit – your Pod – dedicated to establishing WorkWhile as the indispensable flexible workforce platform for the world's largest and most influential big-box retailers, grocery chains, omni-channel operators, and warehousing and logistics companies.
• • Your mandate extends beyond traditional sales; you are the strategic architect responsible for defining and executing how WorkWhile wins and scales its most significant enterprise retail partnerships. This involves leading a dedicated Pod of Enterprise Account Executives and Account Managers, fostering a culture of excellence, and ensuring seamless collaboration across WorkWhile's internal teams to deliver unparalleled value to our retail clients.
• • **Growth – Enterprise Acquisition & Market Shaping:**
• • Drive Sales Velocity: You will coach and mentor your Account Executives (AEs) to identify, pursue, and close high-value opportunities within the enterprise retail space. This includes managing to a strong win rate and optimizing for shorter sales cycles, ensuring WorkWhile gains a competitive edge.
• • Anchor Account Strategy: Your primary focus will be identifying and securing 'anchor' retail accounts – these are the national big-box giants, global grocery conglomerates, and multi-banner retail enterprises that will serve as foundational pillars for WorkWhile's success in the sector.
• • Solution Design: You will be instrumental in positioning WorkWhile not just as a staffing solution, but as a strategic answer to the inherent labor volatility faced by retailers. This includes addressing challenges related to seasonal peaks, new store openings, large-scale inventory cycles, and fluctuating consumer demand.
• • Complex MSAs: You will provide expert support to your AEs as they navigate the intricate, multi-threaded enterprise sales cycles characteristic of Fortune 500 retailers. This includes guiding them through complex procurement processes, legal negotiations, and compliance requirements.
• • Strategic Positioning: Your role is to elevate the conversation from transactional staffing to a strategic imperative, demonstrating how 'labor elasticity' can be leveraged as a significant competitive advantage for retail businesses.
• • **Retention – Operational & Technical Excellence:**
• • Fulfillment Oversight: You will collaborate closely with WorkWhile's Operations team to guarantee exceptional service delivery, targeting and maintaining fill rates of 90% or higher with high-quality, reliable workers who meet the demanding standards of enterprise retail.
• • Executive Multi-Threading: Cultivate and maintain deep, strategic relationships across key departments within client organizations, including Operations, Human Resources, and Information Technology, ensuring WorkWhile is integrated at multiple levels.
• • Churn Mitigation: Proactively identify accounts that may be at risk of churn through rigorous data analysis and consistent executive touchpoints. Your goal is to ensure WorkWhile remains the preferred and primary staffing partner for these critical clients.
• • Data-Driven QBRs: Lead impactful Quarterly Business Reviews (QBRs) with executive stakeholders, focusing on measurable outcomes such as site-level performance improvements, labor cost optimization, and significant reductions in employee turnover.
• • **Expansion – Strategic Upselling & Wallet Share Growth:**
• • Increase Wallet Share: Strategically transition existing accounts from providing seasonal support to becoming year-round labor partners. This involves expanding WorkWhile's footprint across Store Operations, Last-Mile Fulfillment, and Distribution Centers, aiming to capture the majority of the client's staffing needs currently served by other providers.
• • Location Expansion: Spearhead the successful rollout of WorkWhile's solutions from initial pilot programs in a single region or banner to encompass the client's entire nationwide network of locations.
• • Referral Loops: Develop and incentivize 'land and expand' strategies, creating a virtuous cycle where a successful engagement at one location or within one brand portfolio naturally opens doors to opportunities across the client's entire business.
• • **Pod Leadership & GM Mentality:**
• • Team Mentorship: Provide inspirational leadership, coaching, and development to your team of Enterprise Account Executives and Account Managers, fostering a high-performance, collaborative environment.
• • P&L Ownership: Take direct responsibility for the Retail vertical's financial performance, including Net Dollar Retention (NDR), revenue targets, and segment profitability, meticulously managing the balance between Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) and Lifetime Value (LTV).
• • Cross-Functional Bridge: Serve as the crucial 'voice of the retailer' within WorkWhile, providing essential market insights and feedback to the Product and Supply teams to ensure our development roadmap directly addresses the evolving needs of the enterprise retail sector.
• • This role demands a holistic, General Manager mindset, where you are as invested in the long-term health and sustainable revenue growth of the segment as you are in closing the next big deal. You will be a player-coach, adept at jumping into a discovery call, supporting a critical QBR, or guiding an AE through a complex negotiation, all within the same day. Your success will be measured by Net New Revenue (ACV of new enterprise MSAs), Net Dollar Retention (NDR), and Pod Profitability (CAC vs. LTV).